The present invention relates to traffic control, and more particularly to control of traffic intersections using a traffic signal. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to control of traffic intersections after failure of a control system or power source, or scheduled or unscheduled shutdown of same, in a vehicular traffic control system.
One of the many dangerous conditions that exists when a primary power source failure occurs, or that exists when the primary power source is shut down for scheduled or unscheduled maintenance, is that the traffic signals, e.g., traffic lights, controlling vehicular movement through traffic intersections become inoperative. When this occurs, vehicular traffic can become jammed, particularly in crowded areas. Problematically, this not only increases the possibility of traffic accidents, but also blocks traffic lanes from emergency vehicles such as ambulances, police cars and fire engines. Furthermore, these dangerous conditions necessitate manual traffic control by a police officer, imperiling the police officer and distracting him or her from potentially more important duties. Unfortunately, these dangerous condition exists because, heretofore, there has been no effective system for quickly providing standby (or backup) power to the vehicular traffic control system upon failure or shutdown of the primary power source.
Further conditions that can cause failure or shutdown of a vehicular traffic control system is control system failure, or scheduled or unscheduled maintenance of a primary control system. Such failure or shutdown can preclude proper operation of the traffic signals, e.g., traffic lights, even if power has not failed, is not shut down, or is restored after a power outage. Such control system failures can result in traffic jams and other dangerous conditions, such as four way green lights, which can lead to traffic accidents. As with failure or shutdown of the primary power source, a police officer must generally be summoned to the traffic intersection with a failed or shutdown primary control system in order to manually manage traffic. Unfortunately, there has heretofore been no effective means of quickly remedying a failed or shutdown primary control system, or a combination of a failed or shutdown primary control system and a failed or shutdown primary power source without imperiling a human life through manual (i.e., hand-signal) traffic management.
Thus, heretofore upon the failure or shutdown of the primary power source, or primary control system, a police officer must be dispatched to the traffic intersection concerned in order to effect manual control of the intersection. As mentioned above, this pulls the police officer from other perhaps more important duties, thereby making less than efficient use of a police force. Furthermore, manual control of the traffic intersection is very dangerous. Distracted or careless motorists are prone to strike the police officer with their vehicles, causing him or her potentially fatal injuries. Thus, a system and method are desperately needed for standby or backup traffic management that do not require a police officer to risk his or her life in manually controlling an intersection. Furthermore, such a system and method are needed that do not require that a sworn police officer be present at the intersection in order to effect standby or backup control, advantageously making the police officer available to perform perhaps more important duties.
The present invention advantageously addresses the above and other needs.